1. Field of the Invention
This application relates particularly to a system for producing a high-purity water product which may be incorporated as the product finishing stage of a heavy water production system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the prior art, the purification of water containing contaminants, e.g. a concentrate of heavy water (deuturium oxide) from a heavy water production plant, has been performed by the distillation process of boiling the water and passing the vapors in a reflux fractionating column with withdrawal of a portion of the reflux condensate as the purified water product. Addition of potassium permanganate to the boiling water has been employed to remove oxidizable impurities. Such prior art is described in U.S. Atomic Energy Commission Report DP-400 "Production of Heavy Water, Savannah River and Dana Plants, Technical Manual, July 1959." Because ordinary distilled water may still contain traces of impurities, a high-purity water product could be obtained only by double or triple water distillations.